Pill tray

ABSTRACT

A pill tray has a rectangular base having a depressed trough formed on one side and a retaining wall formed on the other sides thereof. Both the wall and the trough have pour spout openings formed therein at opposite ends of the base. The base slopes upwardly toward the trough. Pills are placed on the base and the desired number of pills are separated and pushed into the trough. The remaining pills on the base are removed by tilting the tray downwardly toward the opening in the wall and pouring the pills into a container or bottle. Then, the desired number of pills are removed by tilting the tray downwardly toward and opening in the trough.

United States Patent [191 Chandler 211 App]. No.: 312,807

[52] US. Cl. 214/1 C, 133/8 R, 222/572 [51] Int. Cl. G07d 9/06 [58] Field of Search 214/1 C, 1 R; 133/1 R,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Dovener 232/65 Fields 133/8 R X 1 June 25, 1974 Primary Examiner-Frank E. Werner Attorney, Agent, or FirmBrumbaugh, Graves, Donohue & Raymond [57] ABSTRACT A pill tray has a rectangular base having a depressed trough formed on one side and a retaining wall formed on the other sides thereof. Both the wall and the trough have pour spout openings formed therein at opposite ends of the base. The base slopes upwardly toward the trough. Pills are placed on the base and the desired number of pills are separated and pushed into the trough. The remaining pills on the base are removed by tilting the tray downwardly toward the opening in the wall and pouring the pills into a container or bottle. Then, the desired number of pills are removed by tilting the tray downwardly toward and opening in the trough.

9 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PILL TRAY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an improvement in a pill tray and more particularly, to a tray for conveniently separating a desired quantity of pills from a larger quantity.

In one conventional type pill tray, the tray comprises a slotted plate. To separate a specific quantity of pills, the tray is shaken so as to cause the pills to fall into the slots. These slots hold the counted pills in place while the remaining pills are removed. The counted pills are then removed from the slots by several known techniques, including the provision of a trap door under the slotted plate. Another pill tray incorporates a collapsible platform to separate pills. In this type tray, the pills fall in two compartments beneath the platform. A pill tray is believed to be known that has a trough having a cover that holds the counted pills while the remaining pills are removed from the tray. All of these trays usually have moving parts and many require that the user have a certain amount of manual dexterity to properly separate a desired quantity of pills from a larger quantity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION There is provided in accordance with the present invention a pill tray that overcomes the problems previously mentioned. More particularly, the invention relates to a pill tray formed of a unitary piece of material that permits a desired quantity of pills to be separated from a larger quantity in a simple and convenient manner.

A tray according to the present invention has a base terminated at opposite ends by a retaining wall and a depressed trough. The wall and the trough have pour spout openings to permit the remaining pills and the desired quantity of pills, respectively, to be funneled from the tray and into suitable containers. The desired quantity of pills are pushed into the trough. The remaining pills are removed by tilting the tray downwardly toward the opening in the wall and pouring the pills into a receptacle. The desired quantity of pills is removed by tilting the tray downwardly toward the opening in the trough and pouring the pills into a second receptacle. Thus, the pills are quickly separated in a tray without moving parts and with simple manual tilting motions of the tray.

Generally, the pour spout openings are formed on opposite sides of the base. In a preferred embodiment, the base is rectangular and the twopour spout openings are formed diagonally across the base. The retaining wall may be formed around three sides of the base or alternatively, one side of the base may be formed without a retaining wall to permit a pill sorting device, such as a spatula, to be positioned horizontally on the base. The base has a slope that rises toward the trough to minimize the degree of tilting necessary to remove the remaining pills. The sidewall of the trough adjacent the base is curved to prevent the desired quantity of pills from leaving the trough while the remainingpills are poured from the base.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view of the pill tray, taken along the line 22 of FIG. 1', and

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of another embodiment of the pill tray.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In theillustrative embodiment of the pill tray according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. I, a pill tray, referred to generally by the numeral 10, may be fonned from a suitable material, such as plastic. The tray 10 is designed for use by a person who must separate a desired quantity of pills from a larger quantity. A rectangular base 12 has a retaining wall 14 that is formed along three sides of the base 12. The retaining wall 14 is formed with a pour spout opening 16. A base support 18 forms one support leg for the tray 10.

The tray is also formed with a depressed trough, referred to generally by the numeral 20, which holds pills in a manner to be described in more detail subsequently. A lip 22 forms both one end of the base 12 and the top of a side wall 23 for the trough 20. The trough is provided with pour spout opening 24 which is located diagonally across the base 12 with respect to the opening 16. In addition, the orientation of the two pour spout openings 16 and 24 is approximately As shown at 26, the base 12 slopes upwardly from a generally flat surface adjacent the wall 14 to the lip 22 terminating the side wall 23 of the trough 20. Due to the curvature of the inner surface of the side wall 23 of the trough 20, the lip 22 extends beyond the wall 23 and into the trough 20.

In operation, a user of the pill tray pours a quantity of pills from a container onto the base 12. A spatula or similar device is used to separate the desired quantity from the pills by sliding the pills across the base 12, over the lip 22 and into the trough 20. After the desired quantity of pills has been accumulated in the trough, the user tilts the tray downwardly toward the pour spout opening 16 to permit the remaining pills to be poured through the opening 16 and into the container from which they came. During this operation, the desired quantity of pills remain in the trough 20 for the following reasons. The base 12 slopes generally upwardly at 26 toward the lip 22 so that the tray need not be tilted downwardly toward the opening 16 as much as would otherwise be necessary. Additionally, the lip 22 extends into the trough 20 to further keep the pills in the trough 20. Additionally, the depth of the trough and the curvature of the wall 23 assist in keeping the pills away from the lip 22. The pills do not fall out of the opening 24 because it is diagonally spaced from the pour spout opening 16, and while the tray is tilted, the pills in the trough will accumulate at the closed end thereof. After the remaining pills are'removed from the base 12, the tray is tilted downwardly toward the pour spout opening 24 to permit the pills in the trough 20 to be poured into a suitable container.

The pill tray, shown in FIG. 3, is similar to that shown in FIG. 1 except that the wall 14 is only formed around two sides of the base 12. The advantage of this tray resides in facilitating the use of a sorting device, such as a spatula (not shown), to separate pills on the base 12. The absence of the wall on one side permits the spatula to be positioned horizontally on the surface of the base 12 and to be used to slide the pills into the trough. This form of pill tray is especially useful in separating and counting very small pills.

The embodiments of the present invention described previously are intended to be merely exemplary and those skilled in the art will be able to make numerous variations and modifications without departing from the spirit of the present invention. All such variations and modifications are intended to be in the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A pill tray for separating a desired quantity of pills from a larger quantity of pills comprising: a base for holding the larger quantity of pills; a wall formed around a portion of the base, the wall having a pour spout opening to funnel the remainder of the larger quantity of pills out of the tray by tilting the tray downwardly toward the opening; and a depressed trough formed adjacent a part of the portion of the base not having a wall formed therearound to receive the desired quantity of pills and to hold the desired quantity of pills when the tray is tilted downwardly to funnel the remainder of the larger quantity of pills out of the opening, the end of the base adjacent the trough forming a lip that extends over a part of the trough, the trough having a pour spout opening to funnel the desired quantity of pills out of the trough by tilting the tray downwardly toward the pour spout opening in the trough.

2. The pill tray according to claim 1 wherein the base slopes upwardly from the wall to the trough.

3. The pill tray according to claim 1 wherein the pour spout openings are formed on opposite sides of the base.

4. The pill tray according to claim 1 wherein the base has a generally rectangular surface, the wall is formed around three sides of the base, and the depressed trough is formed along the fourth side of the base.

5. The pill tray according to claim 4 wherein the pour spout opening in the trough is oriented approximately from the pour spout opening in the wall.

6. The pill tray according to claim 1 wherein the base has a generally rectangular surface, the wall is formed around two adjacent sides of the base, the third side having no wall formed thereon and the depressed trough is formed adjacent the fourth side of the base.

7. The pill tray according to claim 6 wherein the pour spout opening in the trough is oriented approximately 90 from the pour spout opening in the wall.

8. The pill tray according to claim 1 wherein the trough has a generally oblong transverse cross-section.

9. A pill tray for separating a desired quantity of pills from a larger quantity of. pills comprising: a base for holding the larger quantity of pills; a wall formed around a portion of the base, the wall having a pour spout opening to funnel the remainder of the larger quantity of pills out of the tray by tilting the tray downwardly toward the opening; and a depressed trough formed adjacent a part of the portion of the base not having a wall formed therearound to receive the desired quantity of pills and to hold the desired quantity of pills when the tray is tilted downwardly to funnel the remainder of the larger quantity of pills out of the opening, the trough having a generally oblong transverse cross-section and a pour spout opening to funnel the desired quantity of pills out of the trough by tilting the tray downwardly toward the pour spout opening in the trough the pour spout opening in the trough being oriented approximately 90 from the pour spout opening in the wall. 

1. A pill tray for separating a desired quantity of pills from a larger quantity of pills comprising: a base for holding the larger quantity of pills; a wall formed around a portion of the base, the wall having a pour spout opening to funnel the remainder of the larger quantity of pills out of the tray by tilting the tray downwardly toward the opening; and a depressed trough formed adjacent a part of the portion of the base not having a wall formed therearound to receive the desired quantity of pills and to hold the desired quantity of pills when the tray is tilted downwardly to funnel the remainder of the larger quantity of pills out of the opening, the end of the base adjacent the trough forming a lip that extends over a part of the trough, the trough having a pour spout opening to funnel the desired quantity of pills out of the trough by tilting the tray downwardly toward the pour spout opening in the trough.
 2. The pill tray according to claim 1 wherein the base slopes upwardly from the wall to the trough.
 3. The pill tray according to claim 1 wherein the pour spout openings are formed on opposite sides of the base.
 4. The pill tray according to claim 1 wherein the base has a generally rectangular surface, the wall is formed around three sides of the base, and the depressed trough is formed along the fourth side of the base.
 5. The pill tray according to claim 4 wherein the pour spout opening in the trough is oriented approximately 90* from the pour spout opening in the wall.
 6. The pill tray according to claim 1 wherein the base has a generally rectangular surface, the wall is formed around two adjacent sides of the base, the third side having no wall formed thereon and the depressed trough is formed adjacent the fourth side of the base.
 7. The pill tray according to claim 6 wherein the pour spout opening in the trough is oriented approximately 90* from the pour spout opening in the wall.
 8. The pill tray according to claim 1 wherein the trough has a generally oblong transverse cross-section.
 9. A pill tray for separating a desired quantity of pills from a larger quantity of pills comprising: a base for holding the larger quantity of pills; a wall formed around a portion of the base, the wall having a pour spout opening to funnel the remainder of the larger quantity of pills out of the tray by tilting the tray downwardly toward the opening; and a depressed trough formed adjacent a part of the portion of the base not having a wall formed therearound to receive the desired quantity of pills and to hold the desired quantity of pills when the tray is tilted downwardly to funnel the remainder of the larger quantity of pills out of the opening, the trough having a generally oblong transverse cross-section and a pour spout opening to funnel the desired quantity of pills out of the trough by tilting the tray downwardly toward the pour spout opening in the trough the pour spout opening in the trough being oriented approximately 90* from the pour spout opening in the wall. 